Times
of India: Chennai: Tuesday, 11 November 2014.
Arrested for
possession and trafficking of dangerous drugs, 68 Indians are held prisoners in
Malaysia, the external affairs ministry has said. In an RTI reply on October
10, the high commission of India in Kaula Lampur released names of the 68
Indians in Malaysian jails.
While 28
prisoners have been convicted by Malaysian courts, 40 have been remanded. Many
of the prisoners are believed to be from Tamil Nadu with most of them having
left from Chennai international airport. Six of the prisoners are females,
while 10 are males below 30 years.
The prisoners
were booked under the Dangerous Drug Prevention Act of Malaysia between May
2008 and September 2014. Most prisoners have been booked under Section
39B(1)(a) for dangerous drugs. Various charges include drug possession,
trafficking of drugs, drug use and consumption of excessive drugs.
There are
5,986 Indian nationals in foreign jails, 1,400 (23%) of them in Saudi Arabia.
Seventy-one Indians have completed their sentences and are waiting for
completion of deportation formalities in foreign jails, former minister of
state for external affairs V K Singh had told the Rajya Sabha in a written
reply in July this year.
After Saudi
Arabia, UAE jails houses the largest number of Indians (985), followed by
Pakistan (468). The Minister had said that as per the information provided by
the Indian high commission in Islamabad, there are 219 civil prisoners,
believed to be Indians, in Pakistani jails. However, as per information
provided by Pakistani authorities to the Indian High Commission on July 1, 47
civil prisoners believed to be Indians are in Pakistani jails.
While the UK
has 430 Indians in its jails, Nepal has 377, Malaysia has 332 and Kuwait has
274. The maximum number of Indians who finished their sentences and awaiting
deportation are in Bangladesh. There are 37 such Indians while another 20 are
in Malaysia.
.JPG)
.JPG)
